


Feel for You

by SaraJaye



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Byleth is confounded by Feelings, Crying, Emotions, F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Grief/Mourning, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Parent(s), Post-Chapter 3, Pre-Relationship, Protective My Unit | Byleth, White Clouds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:28:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24796192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: It's the first time she's ever trulyfelt,period, a mix of sorrow for someone's loss and anger at a person she would normally think twice about defying even in her own head.(Byleth finds Ashe crying in the cathedral after Lonato's death and has Emotions about it.)
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 3
Kudos: 71
Collections: Hurt/Comfort Bingo - Round 11





	Feel for You

She can't sleep. It's been hours since her talk with Lady Rhea, and Byleth can't sleep. It's a combination of things: the battle, Dimitri's outburst afterwards, Lady Rhea's words...the look on her face that could only be described as callous serenity. _I pray the students learned a valuable lesson about the fate that awaits all who are foolish enough to point their blades towards the heavens._

And most of all, it's Ashe. Seeing tears and sorrow on that bright young face was more than she could handle; a momentary prickly feeling had risen behind her eyes and she still didn't know what to make of it. Or the hard, hot feeling in her chest that made her fists clench reflexively when she remembers her little talk with Lady Rhea.

She's still dressed in her academy uniform, walking towards the cathedral for reasons she's not sure of. Certainly not to pray, she still doesn't understand the teachings of Seiros and isn't sure she trusts a goddess who would condemn a man to death without giving him a fair hearing.

 _The fate that awaits all who are foolish enough to point their blades towards the heavens,_ Lady Rhea's voice echoes in her head, and her fist clenches as the hot, prickly feeling returns, stronger than before. Maybe Lord Lonato _had_ been foolish, rebelling against the church, but she'd heard his last words, seen the look in his eyes as he crossed lances with Dimitri.

Seen him use the last of his strength to glance towards Ashe.

 _Would the goddess truly be okay with this? He did wrong, but did he deserve to die just because he had a problem with the church? He wasn't doing this for some power grab, he did it to avenge his family._ Byleth still doesn't know the whole story, Catherine had been about to tell them before the enemies approached. Then she'd been silent for the march back to Garreg Mach.

She pushes the heavy cathedral doors open and is greeted by the sound of muffled weeping. _Ashe._ She follows the sound to a corner, where he's slumped against the wall, knees hugged to his chest. Occasionally, he mumbles Lonato's name and an apology.

 _Those foolish enough to point their blades towards the heavens._ She clenches her fist against a stronger sensation in her chest. Now is not the time to dwell on Lady Rhea and her idea of justice. Instead, she sits down beside Ashe, wrapping her arm around his shoulder.

"Ah..." He looks up at her with red eyes and tear-stained cheeks. "Sorry, Professor, I didn't think anyone would be here at this hour, I just-"

"It's fine," she says, drawing him closer. Affection was something she wasn't used to; despite having quite a close relationship with her father they weren't the type to hug and kiss and express feelings so easily. But seeing Ashe so lost and alone awakens this impulse, to hold him close and show him he doesn't _have_ to go through this alone.

He buries his face in her shoulder, soaking her jacket with his tears. She strokes his messy silver hair, cradling him to her, the warmth of his grief seeping into her. _Is this what it feels like?_ Byleth only knows what emotions are from books and from seeing them on other people; she alone has been likened to a walking doll due to her inability to feel and her lack of a heartbeat. She can't remember ever shedding tears, or smiling.

But her chest feels heavy and her eyes ache as she holds Ashe, wishing she knew just the right thing to say to take his pain away.

"You have the right to grieve. You're not wrong for hurting right now."

He clutches the sleeve of her jacket, curling further into her arms. Little by little, his sobs die down and his tears slow to a stop; when he looks up at her again she instinctively brings her hand up to caress his cheek.

"Better now?"

"Thanks." He sniffles, rubbing his nose on his sleeve. "I feel so _useless._ I knew things weren't the same anymore when Christophe died, but he tried to pretend they were, he never said anything about a rebellion." His brow furrows briefly. "Some of the townspeople, they scoffed at me, said maybe Lonato didn't _care_ about what'd happen to me if he died. That he only cared about Christophe and spiting Lady Rhea!"

"They're wrong," Byleth says. "Dimitri and Catherine believe he did it to protect you, and so do I." She shakes her head. "Don't listen to anyone who says otherwise."

"I _know_ that. Even if I didn't know about the rebellion Lonato was always honest about how he felt about me, and Julie and Arthur." He sniffles again. "S-sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh." To Byleth, he sounds like he's in pain, and she wonders why the townspeople thought he would be okay with them saying such things when he'd just lost someone so important to him.

"They're still wrong. And..." She wonders if she should even say this in a holy place. "So is Lady Rhea." Lady Rhea, who was so warm and welcoming to her when she arrived at the monastery and spoke of things such as peace and goodwill and kindness. Lady Rhea, who had believed someone like her could be a professor despite her inexperience.

 _Lady Rhea, who said Lonato deserved to be punished like the sinner he was with a sickly-sweet smile on her face._ Byleth's fist clenches again, and she holds Ashe closer, as if trying to protect him from her own memory of that meeting.

"She's wrong," she repeats, and Ashe shifts slightly in her embrace, practically in her lap now. Byleth's cheeks flush briefly, she's not used to this much physical contact.

"It hurts," Ashe whispers. She smooths his hair, wiping at his damp cheek with her sleeve.

"I know." She hugs him tight. "But I'm here."

He buries his face in the crook of her neck, and her cheeks flush again. The art of comforting a person is such a strange thing, but this seems to be working, at least for now. His eyes close, he begins to doze off in her arms, and soon the delayed exhaustion catches up with her as well.

_I'll never be able to take Lonato's place, but from now on, I'm going to protect you, Ashe. You and that wonderful smile._


End file.
